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Tiger cubs new stars of Jacksonville's Catty Shack

Five Siberian tigers will be permanent residents at the wildlife sanctuary.

Curt LoGiudice scratches the belly of one of the young Siberian tigers at the Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary. The tigers will never be released into the wild.

Kelly.Jordan@jacksonville.com Curt LoGiudice, executive director of the Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary, is surrounded by three of the five young Siberian tigers, ages 5 weeks and 7 weeks, which are now part of the 40-plus other big cats at the facility. They arrived New Year's Eve.

When Curt LoGiudice lets his newest cats out of the bag, his living room floor-turned-nursery becomes a mass of leaping yellow and black-striped babies.

Guess that happens when you adopt five Siberian tiger cubs New Year’s Eve from a South Florida breeder.

LoGiudice, executive director of the Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jacksonville, will be showing off the bounding fuzzy cubs Saturday and Sunday. They are part of a 10-acre animal preserve that includes 20 tigers, three lions, eight cougars, six leopards, Arctic foxes, coatimundi and a serval.

Life with the female cubs from two litters means feedings every 2 1/2 hours, followed by baby cat belches and naps. It’s all to help keep them and the breed alive, LoGiudice said.

“We will hopefully create a new habitat for them, and as they grow we hope they will continue getting along with each other,” he said. “They probably would have been separated [if we hadn’t adopted them]. A lot of that does go on as people breed and sell their animals not knowing where the outcome is.”

Volunteer Ashley Braig loves helping the kittens, identified for now by their collar colors.

“Most of the time, Red will come and Orange will come and just sit in my lap and just fall asleep. They are so sweet,” Braig said. “Just one big pile of tigers.”

An animal lover, businessman and former dog trainer, LoGiudice started his first animal sanctuary in 1982 in Palm Valley with cougars and a bobcat. Training in the care of big cats, he moved to the present location at 1860 Starratt Road in 1985. The nonprofit now cares for animals rescued by the state due to illegal ownership, shut-down zoos, improper enclosures or maltreatment.

The big cats live in cages in an expansive backyard surrounded by high fences. Tigers like Sarah, Binky and Nero on Wednesday displayed huge teeth as they yawned and relaxed on wooden platforms. All of the animals were born in captivity and will never be released into the wild.

But even if they purr or seek a back scratch from LoGiudice, they aren’t domesticated pets, he warns. Even the oldest pair of cubs, about 7 weeks old, leap at visitors and gently clamp down with their quarter-inch baby teeth.

Feeding time means Catty Shack needs about 450 pounds of beef, chicken or fish daily for the big cats. The kittens need a special formula for the first two months, which costs $60 a day and helps them gain about a pound a day.